Concealed tie back and return holder for drapery



R FOR DRAPERY J 7, 19 9 A. v. BEJARANO CONCEALED TIE BACK AND RETURN HOLDE Filed July 1, 1966 FIG.|

- INVENTOR. A4 s n/v05? MBA'JAEMO United States Patent 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A concealed tie back support and return holder for a drapery, attached at the side of'the opening being draped, located beneath the tie back and the return of the drape, and projecting the fold of the return away from the adjacent structure approximately the same distance as the other folds of the drape.

The present invention relates to a concealed tie back and return holder for a drapery, and more particularly to such a holder for supporting the return of a tied back drapery in projecting relation to the adjacent wall or other structure which defines the opening being draped.

A drapery, and that term is used in this description to include a curtain or the like, is usually mounted in a draped or gathered position adjoining windows or doorways which are spaced some distance from the corner of the room. Consequently, it is not practical to attach a drapery tie back to the adjacent, right angularly oriented wall. Instead, the tieback must be attached to the wall which defines the draped opening.

In the past, tie backs have been made of metal or other rigid material formed into a U-shape or the like. These tie backs were attached to the wall adjacent the draperies in position to receive the gathered or pleated folds when the draperies were swept to the sides at their midportions. However, for various reasons, such as cost and aesthetic appearance, many persons prefer flexible tie backs made of cloth or the like.

Unfortunately, a flexible tie back attached to the wall adjoining the drapery tends to crush the drapery pleats against each other and against the wall in an unsightly fashion. Moreover, such a tie back also undesirably crushes and flattens the return of the drapery, that is, the side marginal portion which extends inwardly toward the Wall. The crushing of the pleats and the returns is particularly apparent in heavy drapes having deep pleats which project an appreciable distance from the wall.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tie back and return holder which is adapted to support the drapery return in projecting, substantially right angularly oriented relation to the wall or other structure defining the opening to be draped, and which further is adapted to mount the opposite extremities of a flexible tie back so that the intermediate portion of the tie back can support the drapery upon the holder without crushing either the drapery return -or pleats against the wall or against one another.

Another object of the invention is to provide a holder of the aforementioned character which is simple to construct, easy to use and quickly installable.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a holder of the aforementioned character in which the portion supporting the drapery return in projecting, substantially right angularly oriented relation to the wall can be adjustably extended and retracted relative to the wall to accommodate draperies having pleats of different depths.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a holder of the aforementioned character which is completely concealed from view when the drapery is in either its extended or swept back positions.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a portion of a draped opening and in which is evident the uniformity and absence of crushing of swept back or gathered drapery pleats when the tie back and return holder of the present invention is used;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the present holder attached to a wall, and also illustrating one means of mounting the extremity of a flexible tie back to the holder;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention, and which is adjustable to accommodate draperies having pleats of different depths.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIGS. 1 through 3, there is illustrated a conventional pleated drapery 10 which is suspended in the usual manner across the top of an opening 12, which may be a door, window, or the like defined by a wall 14. It will be understood that the marginal structure defining the opening 12 could be a window or door casing or the like, and therefore such marginal structure is intended to be regarded as the equivalent of the wall 14 which is mentioned in this description.

The drapery 10 is gathered at an intermediate point by a flexible tie back 16 whose opposite extremities are mounted to the drapery tie back and return holder of the present invention, as will be seen.

The tie back 16 is of conventional construction, being made of a decorative material which matches the material of the drapery 10, and usually includes a crenoline or buckram liner to maintain its shape.

The drapery tie back and return holder of the present invention is designated generally by the numeral 18, and includes a bracket 20 which can be made of any rigid material. However, it is preferably made of an elongated, rectangular piece of sheet metal stock which is bent or formed at one extremity to provide a flange 22 having a plurality of openings for receiving screw fasteners or the like, one of which is illustrated at 24 in FIG. 2. The fasteners 24 are screwed into the wall 14 to secure the bracket 20 in position.

The opposite extremity of the bracket 20 is rolled or rounded to define a substantially vertically oriented projection 26 which extends normally or at right angles to the wall 14 when the bracket 20 is secured in operative position upon the wall. The projection 26 is characterized by an arcuately configured cross section over which the material of the drapery 10 is slidable without damage.

The depth of the bracket 20, that is, the length of the portion intermediate the flange 22 and the outer rounded surface of the projection 26, is made sufficiently long that the projection 26 is spaced from the wall 14 a distance approximating the depth of the drapery return 28, which is best illustrated in FIG. 3. The term return is intended to designate the side marginal portion of the drapery which extends inwardly toward the wall 14. Moreover, the phrase return fold and the phrase fold of the return are both intended to designate that portion of the drapery which forms a continuation of the return and which overlies and folds over the outer extremity of the projection 26.

Customarily, the drapery 10 is suspended from the hardware above the opening 12 and away from the wall 14 a distance which is sufiicient to permit the pleats 30 to be folded upon one another with the rounded inner edges of the pleats almost engaging the wall 14. The outermost partial pleat defines the drapery return 28, which hides the track or suspension hardware at its upper extremity and also provides an aesthetically attractive and unbroken vertical line or margin at the side of the drapery.

The bracket 20 includes a pair of vertically spaced apart openings 32 which are preferably located at the angle or bend between the flange 22 and the remainder for the bracket 20. A similar pair of vertically spaced apart openings 34 are provided in the bracket 20 slightly outwardly of the openings 32.

The openings 32 and 34 are adapted to receive conventional tie back pin hooks 36, one of which is illustrated in FIG. 2, and which are secured to the opposite extremities of the tie back 16. In this regard, and as best seen in FIG. 3, the intermediate portion of the tie back 16 extends around the drapery and its opposite extremities are mounted to the bracket by the hooks 36. The hook at one extremity of the tie back 16 is disposed through one of the openings 32 and the hook at the opposite end of the tie back is disposed through one of the openings 34. Both of the openings 32 and both of the openings 34 would be used in the event that the tie back were sufficiently wide to carry a pair of spaced apart hooks at each extremity.

The opposite extremities of the tie back 16 preferably each includes an eyelet 38 so that the tie back 16 could be mounted upon tenter hooks (not shown) driven into the wall 14 adjacent the bracket 20, or upon punched out projections (not shown) provided in the bracket 20 for that purpose.

As seen in FIG. 3, the bracket 20 underlies the drapery 10 and the tie back extends from the inner rear portion of the bracket 20, behind the folded pleats 30, around and in front of the pleats, over and against the outer surface of the projection 26, and then back to the wall 14.

The bracket 20 is completely concealed by the drapery but, by reason of its projection from the wall 14, supports the tie back 16 and the return 28 so that they both extend away from the wall a distance approximating the depth of the folded pleats 30.

With this arrangement, neither the pleats nor the return 28 is crushed or wrinkled against the wall 14, even though the flexible tie back 16 is used. For deeper pleats, the bracket 20 is merely made longer so as to locate the projection 26 farther away from the wall 14. Consequent- 1y, no matter how deep the pleats, nor how heavy the drapery material, the pleats are not crushed or otherwise deformed except for a slight rounding of the ends of the most inwardly located pleats. The resultant gathered or folded drapery is aesthetically attractive particularly by reason of the uniformity and clean vertical lines of the pleats.

A bracket 40, which is illustrated in FIG. 4, constitutes another embodiment of the present holder. It is identical in every respect to the previously-described bracket 20 except that the portion of the bracket intermediate the flange 22 and the projection 26 is made extensible and retractable to accommodate the bracket 40 to draperies having pleats of different depths. More particularly, the bracket 40 includes an inner section 42 mounting the flange 22, and a separate outer section 44 mounting the projection 26. The vertical, confronting edge margins of the sections 42 and 44 are each provided with a pair of vertically-spaced, horizontally elongated slots 46 which slidably receive a corresponding plurality of bolts 48.

The bolts 48 pass through suitable openings provided in a flat interconnecting plate 50 extending between the sections 42 and 44. The projection 26 can thus be located different distances from the flange 22 by merely adjusting the location of the bolts 48 in different portions of the slots 46. Lock nuts 52 are mounted upon the bolts 48 for securing the plate 50 and sections 42 and 44 in their adjusted positions.

A pair of the holders 18 are used to hold the pair of draperies at opposite sides of a window, door or the like, in gathered or swept back positions. The holders 18 can be quickly and easily installed adjacent the sides of the draped opening and are hidden from view in both the open and closed conditions of the draperies.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to the foregoing detailed description without de parting from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with structure defining an opening; a drape for said opening; a flexible tie back looped about said drape and holding said drape in folds to one side of said opening; and means suspending said drape in spaced relation to said structure whereby the drape is characterized by a return extending inwardly toward said structure, the improvement comprising:

a bracket located beneath said drape and including an attachment portion secured to said structure, and further including a projection extending outwardly of said structure, underlying said tie back and the return of said drape, and supporting only the fold of said return to project said fold away from said structure approximately the same distance as the others of said folds of said drape which are unsupported by said projection.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said bracket includes means for mounting the opposite extremities of said tie back.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said projection is vertically elongated and arcuately configured adjacent said fold of said return.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said bracket includes means operative to adjust the extent of outward projection of said projection relative to said structure.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,917,828 7/1933 Coen -349 1,955,152 4/1934 Simmons 248309 XR 2,180,219 11/1939 Wormley 160349 3,059,105 10/1962 Roe et a1. 248-298 X FOREIGN PATENTS 938,371 10/1963 Great Britain.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 248-298 

